Welcome to Spring

It is officially Spring.

Bring on pretty dresses and sandals, right? 

Well apparently Mother Nature doesn't care since she blanketed our town with an unexpected snow.

But with the melting snow and hope that pretty blooms will start to appear again, brings the excitement of change!

Lots of change going on at {the nuthouse} in the coming weeks.

1. Lots of spring cleaning and purging.  It's time to declutter a little bit!
2. Furniture shuffling throughout the house
3. A little scenery change as we get ready for Spring Break in the Outer Banks
4. My dad and step mom are about to embark on an adventure and move! 

Oh, and one more awesome change...
My sister in law and her husband, and of course my handsome nephew too, are all on their way to VA... RIGHT NOW!!  That's right!  Cousin love just got a little bit more awesome!

What are ya'll looking forward to this Spring?

xoxo,
Linda

Developmentally Sound

Sorry to have missed a week, folks.  Lainey's immune system is still struggling to keep up with the preschool germs.  Which, in turn, is leaving me struggling to keep up with life.  Lots of sleepless nights and I have seen the Mickey Mouse doctor poster more times than I would like to in the last 14 days! 

So, let's not focus on physical health today; let's take a look at developmental health.

One of my cousins is wrapping up her tour of pediatrics in nursing school and as one of her final assignments, she needed to "assess" a toddler-aged child for developmental milestones.

Well, what a coincidence! I happen to have a toddler-aged child!!

The most commonly asked questions of people when they hear Lainey is a preemie is always "Well, how's she doing developmentally?"

I know they are curious if her being a preemie has had any negative impacts to her growth, but I still cringe at the question.  I generally shrug it off with a "She seems perfect to me." or something of the like.  So, when Torie asked if she could use Lainey as her test subject, I was actually intrigued.

I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to see how Lainey really is doing in terms of her growth, motor skills, and all that jazz.

Pleased to report: She passed.

As to be expected, she passed what she was supposed to pass.

But, then there is the flip side of tests like this...

These tests are very much so a pass/fail scenario.  There is no "well she kind of jump on her own" answer when the form says "Can the child jump with 2 feet of the ground on their own?"

So, here is my qualm with this, and probably more standardized testing to come in our future schooling...

How can one test determine how smart my child is? 

For example, Lainey was asked to identify the cat on a piece of paper.  Well, surely, this would be an easy task for her.  She knows what a cat is, what it says, and how to call the neighbor cat to visit our front porch.  BUT no - she did not identify the cat, nor did she identify the dog on the same paper! 

You've got to be kidding me, kiddo.

Now, of course, I understand the value of baselines and minimum requirements for placements, etc.  There has to be guidelines and things in order for graduating to the next grade or getting into certain programs. I get it.

And what may be more frustrating for me, the mother, is that I know she knows the answers to the things she "failed." 

It just reiterates to me how invaluable a single test can be.  No wonder teachers are not usually fans of SOLs.  I am sure they have value, in fact, I know they do. But that doesn't mean I have to like them, right? 
 
I just don't think one test should hold so much weight.


xoxo,
Linda

Spring Styling

Gotta love VA weather -- earlier this week there was a snow storm in VA and yet early next week, the temps are projected to be in the 60s!  This up and down weather has me yearning for warmer weather!

So, let's bring on the Spring pretties!!

LV - Spring 2013 by lindavenema featuring tops

xoxo,
Linda

{2012} published

I may be a few months into 2013 already, but I finally ordered Lainey's 2012 in review book! I so wish that I could create this book as the year goes on, but it never fails... I wait until after Christmas to even get started. 

2011 was much simpler since it was only half a year to document, so I admittedly didn't really know how I was going to handle an entire year of photo fun!  Yes, that's right... last year was Lainey's first full year bringing joy and excitement into the world!

It's so fun to go back through all of the photos, snapshots, and instagrams and see how this little gal has grown up over the last year. 

Should be here today! Can't for tonight's bedtime book... I think I know which one we will be reading!

xoxo,
Linda